A Simple "Thank You"

Today I want to thank you, our donors, for your support and leadership. But when I think about what to share with you or how to show you the impact you make every day, my mind goes racing. That is because I have the honor of witnessing firsthand all the ways you help the third largest region in our country, the Chicagoland area and northern Illinois, and my mind is filled with so many wonderful examples of the difference you make.

But while I write this post, two stories keep coming to mind. The first is of an 11-year-old boy who lives in the far west part of our service region.

Not only do I know of him through my role at JourneyCare but — unbeknownst to me for many months — my mother-in-law also coincidentally knows his family, too. I had heard her talking many times about him and his family, about their strength, and about how a healthcare organization was taking such great care of the boy and his family. She often would share stories of the wonderful care he was receiving, and how many people from the agency have contributed to help the family. Then in recent days, my mother-in-law called and said “It’s your organization that is taking care of him. You're helping the family!”

My response was quick: “I'm not taking care of him. It is our donors and the amazing care team who are doing all of this.”

I can't tell you how much pride I felt in that moment to be affiliated with an organization that has such a huge reach.

The second story takes me back to Thanksgiving. The week of Thanksgiving is one of my favorite weeks in the year: family starts calling about the meal and asking what they can bring, while everyone at work is happy and in a great mood. The Monday of Thanksgiving week, I received a request from a social worker to help a family through our Comfort & Joy fund, which provides our patients and their families with special, non-medical needs, like fulfilling a special wish or providing assistance with an emergency. Later in the day I received two more and the requests across our service region were basically the same: some of our patients’ families had gone through savings, they had no money for a holiday meal and could JourneyCare assist? Again, for me, life was put in perspective.

Because of you, our amazing donors, we were able to feed a half dozen families this Thanksgiving. We provided families, if just for a day, the feeling of normality and optimism that is critical to their well-being as they face serious illness.

I can go on with hundreds of stories like these, or I could tell you about our programs that offer education, comfort and connectivity to others because of you. But instead of doing that, we are going to say “thank you” directly.

On Thursday, January 26, members of the JourneyCare Foundation, Board members, our Executive Leadership Team and a handful of our volunteers are calling our donors to simply offer our gratitude and say “Thanks.” The message is simple but your impact is powerful.

I am so proud and honored to lead a Foundation with such a simple mission: help us to always say “yes” and never turn a person away because of finances. Because of you, our talented and committed care teams can impact lives through their training and passion. And you impact lives, too, because you back up your belief in our mission through your generosity.

So once again, thank you for what you do and I ask that you keep doing it ... because tomorrow we will serve another 3,000 patients and their families.